LAHORE: The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) has rejected what it described as fresh attempts to postpone local government elections in Punjab, demanding that the provincial government announce a final polling schedule without further delay and declaring that the party is fully prepared to contest the polls at every tier.
In a statement issued from Lahore, PMML spokesperson Dr. Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi said the Punjab government had resorted to “delaying tactics” to avoid returning to the electorate, and that the province could not be kept indefinitely without elected councillors, chairpersons and mayors. If the government intends to conduct the elections in phases, he said, political parties must be taken into confidence before any such decision is finalised.
The statement lands at a moment of movement on the issue. The Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday agreed in principle to a provincial proposal to hold the long-delayed local government elections between December 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027, at a meeting chaired by the Chief Election Commissioner. The Commission asked the Punjab government to submit an early plan if it wishes to conduct the polls in phases — the precise point on which the PMML is now seeking consultation. A formal, notified schedule, however, has yet to be issued.
Dr. Hashmi directed his sharpest criticism at the PML-N provincial administration, saying it appeared unwilling to face voters because it lacked a genuine public mandate. He argued that Punjab had first been handed a diluted local government framework with limited authority, and was now being made to wait for elections under that same weakened structure.
The complaint echoes a broader critique voiced by legal commentators and opposition parties alike, who have questioned whether successive legislative rewrites have strengthened or hollowed out the local tier. Punjab has not held local government elections since 2015; councils formed under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013 were dissolved by the PTI government in April 2019 before completing their tenure, restored on the Supreme Court’s orders, and finally completed their term on December 31, 2021. Repeated amendments to the provincial local government law have stalled the electoral process since.
Dr. Hashmi said the absence of elected local representatives was being felt most acutely at the level of everyday municipal service delivery. Basic civic problems, he argued, cannot be resolved effectively when there is no directly answerable representative for drainage, water supply, sanitation or street lighting. Local government institutions, he said, must be empowered in practice and not merely constituted on paper.
He noted that the Election Commission had repeatedly pressed for progress on the electoral process, yet a conclusive date remained absent. The provincial government, he said, must publicly explain the reasons for the delay and guarantee a transparent process once polling begins.
The PMML has framed its electoral demand as an extension of its recent nationwide Independence Day campaign, which the party said reflected national unity and its continuing struggle for Pakistan’s progress. Party officials argue that the same commitment applies at the grassroots: national development, in their formulation, begins with functioning democratic institutions at the union council and municipal level.
Dr. Hashmi closed with a warning. Should the government make further deliberate attempts to push the polls back, he said, the PMML would announce its future course of action — a phrasing that in Punjab’s political vocabulary typically signals street mobilisation or a formal protest campaign.
The Punjab government had not issued a response to the statement at the time of publication.
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